Did Hurricane Sandy Sweep Away Romney's Chances?

The picture says a thousand words. (Photo courtesy The Daily Beast)

President Obama discontinued his election campaign to become fully engaged in dealing with Hurricane Sandy, before during and after the storm. He looked very Presidential in his demeanor and conduct, earning high praise from the Republican Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie. Obama sent a message of confidence to the public that he is the leader to rely on during a crisis.

Former President George W. Bush's conduct during Hurricane Katrina was totally the opposite. He looked ill informed and incompetent. He became the laughing stock of late night comedians for  praising Brown, then head of FEMA (you are doing a great job Brownie), whereas Brown had done a disastrous job.

In all this, candidate Romney had to take a back seat and some of his earlier utterances came back to haunt him, when he said he would wind up FEMA, which has done a remarkable job this time around. Romney and Ryan have restarted their campaign today, but that may seem inappropriate to many as a large portion of population in New Jersey and New York is still suffering from the massive damage caused by the hurricane.

Hurricane Sandy may have swept away the outside chance Romney may have had of winning the Presidential election. However, it has created a new Republican leader in Chris Christie, who did a great job in this crisis making him possibly the ideal Republican candidate for 2016.

Why is Israeli Prime Minister trying to influence American Presidential Elections?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed up in U.S. a few weeks ago apparently to attend the U.N. General Assembly meeting, but his agenda seemed  more to influence U.S. presidential elections in Mitt Romney's favor.

He expected to be invited to the White House or have a meeting with President Obama for higher media visibility, but the President did not fall in hia trap and quite rightly refused to entertain his request.

It seems the man pulling Netnyahu's strings is Sheldon Adelson, the American casino billionaire who initially supported the extremist candidate Newt Gingrich, but after his defeat in the primaries switched support to Romney. Adelson once said, he is ready to spend $100 million to defeat President Obama.

It is interesting that Netenyahu himself won the elections in Israel with Adelson's backing. Adelson launched a free newspaper 'Yisrael Hyom' in Israel, which loses around $30 million a year just to support Neteyahu for Prime Ministership. It is doubtful that Netenyahu would have won the elections without this support.

The bigger question however is, why is a foreign Head of Government allowed to interefe in U.S. elections? What does this say about American sovereignty, have they surrendered it completely to a foreign country, whose leader is blatantly behaving like a colonial master. Why are the Republicans so shameless that to win, they are prepared to surrender dignity, honor and sovereignty? What if the Saudi King decides to interfere in the U.S. elections, will the Republicans keep their collective mouths shut or will they scream blue murder? 

This interference from Netenyahu may even have backfired for him in Israel. In an article written by Mathew Kalman published in today's Toronto Globe & Mail, it says "Critics (in Israel) say Mr. Netenyahu has effectively become part of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign at Mr. Adelson's behest, creating a rift with Mr. Obama and damaging Israel's ability to work with the United Sates to stop Iran's nuclear ambition".

The same article also says that the former Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, in a rebuke to the Prime Minister from the Knesset podium in August, asked Mr. Netanyah “How low are you prepared to drag relations with our closest ally?” “It seems that the Prime Minister is trying to intervene in a rude, blunt, unprecedented, wanton and dangerous manner in the United States election.”

Will the American public stand up to this blatant interference by a foreign leader or will they take it lying down because the foreign leader is the Prime Minister of Israel?

It is time for refelction by the average American.